Today I'm posting the last of our Thrifty Christmas series. I have been having a lot of fun writing these posts and revisiting some of my fondest memories. I've also seen lots of great ideas on the web. That is why I've decided to make this last post a round up post.

What were my favorite online finds?

• The Toby Show had a wonderful post on Stocking Stuffers. These ideas didn't break the bank and were good for the environment.


• Paula's Ponderings has a great post on how to make a Christmas ornament out shaped like a tree out of paper. These look like a fun project!


• Green Mesh had a neat short video clip about showing a govern's mansion being decorated for Christmas on a budget. I liked the idea of using natural items to decorate.


• MaryAnne from Thrifty Crafty Mama posted a great idea for a kid's craft project. What grandma wouldn't love to have this tree hanging on their fridge?
  

These were just four of my favorite Christmas posts from this year. What are your favorites? Feel free to leave links to your favorite posts.

Earlier today I was thinking about all the fun things we did in our family for Christmas. Some of them were thrifty some of them not so much. But either way, we did have a lot of fun during the Christmas season.

Here are some of the fun things I remember doing as a child that did not cost a lot of money.

• We would sting popcorn for our tree.
• We would all help with making and decorating the cookies.
• Christmas Eve we would watch holiday movies, play games and eat lots of homemade goodies until it was time to leave for Midnight Mass.
• Play in the snow (a lot) with our cousins.
• Help wrap gifts.
• Go ice skating.
• Read lots of Christmas themed books while eating popcorn.
• Cuddling by the fire.

I hope that some of these ideas help to give your family the same warm memories I have from my childhood.

What are some of the traditions that you hope to carry on with your own kids, grandchildren or nieces/nephews?

Did you like the last tip but don't have the time or the money? If that's the case then this next thrifty Christmas idea might be for you!

The best gift I have ever received was the cutest homemade gift certificates from my husband and daughter. This is a great idea for a cheap gift for your spouse. It can be as practical or romantic as you would like it to be. There is nothing better then redeeming a gift card for a foot massage or a week free of laundry duty.

What are your favorite free gifts?

I have a bright idea to share today! Everyone loves to share the Christmas cheer. Some people, like my husband, love to share the cheer through outside Christmas lights. While that might not sound to frugal to some we do try to make it as frugal as possible.

Mr. NtJS uses outside timers to help save on the electric bill. He sets the timer so that the lights kick on at 6pm and then turn off at 10pm. Having the lights on for 4 hours a night will not break the bank while spreading a little holiday cheer.

Do you do anything special with your lights?

Christmas is less then 2 weeks away! Where has all the time gone? It feels like just yesterday we were enjoying summer weather. If you need a kids gift fast but don't have a lot of money to spend I've come up with a great gift idea that seems to be a hit every time no mater the age. The best part is they are made in the USA!

I came up with this idea earlier this year when my daughter was invited to a last minute birthday party for a boy in her class. I'd did not have any of my usual premade gifts stashed away so I was trying to find something quick.

What I came up with was a personalized art kit. I was able to find art supplies at local stores that were made here in the USA. They were Crayola, Kodak, and other brands. HOWEVER, you have to read the packaging because each brand only carries a few items made here. I was even able to find small spiral bound skitch pad diaries made in the USA using wind power.

I put crayons, colored pencils and paint dotters in a pencil pouch or pencil hard case. Then I took the skitch pad and added a sheet of colored paper to it and add their name using left over foam letters from another project. You instantly have a nice sized traveling art kit with the child's name on it for under $15.

Do you have any other in a pinch premade gift ideas that are good for the enviroment and/or made in the USA?

Do you have your stocking hung by the fire with care? We do! As a child I think that one of my favorite thing were our stockings. I remember always rushing downstairs on Christmas morning to see what little goodies had been tucked into my stocking.

As a child my stocking was machine knitted and had our names on them in a very early 80's style. As an adult I wanted to have a more timeless look to our stockings. I also wanted them to look a little more upscale. Of course, I didn't really have any money to spend on this picky project.

Want to know what I did? I'm sure you have lots of great guess but you will have to keep reading to find out.


I was lucky enough to score several boxes of home decor fabric samples from freecycle. I made a lot of different items from the fabric but hands down my favorite is our stockings. I used the fabric samples to quilt together very elegant looking stockings. I also embroidered our names on them for that personal touch. This project cost me nothing since I had all the stuff to make them already.

In fact, I would say that they made me money! I had lots of people comment on how nice they were. Some of them even asked me to sew them stockings. So I did make about a dozen of them some extra Christmas cash one year.

This is an easy project and you can use any fabric you already own. I think that it would be great to take some of your daughter's past Christmas dresses and make them into the stockings. It would have so much meaning.

Did you make your family's stockings? How did you do it?

It seems like when it rains, it pours. At least at house that is always the case. In fact, at this very moment I'm really paranoid that the other shoe (or in this case the 4th shoe) will drop. Let me explain.



We started a major remodeling project in our only full bathroom over Labor Day weekend that was not planned but forced on us by the house (ie. a bad leak). It's still not complete because everything that could go wrong has. Everything in the bathroom has been complicated by the custom everything in it from the 60's. The Mr. has been putting in some very long days and even weekends at work because of deadlines and less staff after the layoff. And every time we turn around something else is happening. For example in the last 7 days we found water in the basement because of our sump pump breaking. Of course that happened on the weekend so we had to pay extra for that job. Then on Tuesday night, actually make that Wednesday morning 1 am when the Mr. got home from working late, the only toilet we have in our house broke. Of yes, 1am. In the morning with a about 3 hours of sleep we realized that it could not be fixed because it was the "guts" of the toilet that broke and it is the orginal toilet to the house. So we were forced into buying a new toilet and installing it ourselves that night as soon as the Mr. came home. All these unexpected expenses are adding up fast.

Am I writing this to complain? I'm only partially venting. I'm really writting this for another reason. To remind everyone why it is important to have an emergancy fund that is easily accessible. Just last night I told the Mr. that I was really sad about blowing $645 on emergancy house repairs this week because I was going to have to not buy the kids some of the things I was planning on buying for Christmas and I was also going to wipe clean my new deep freezer fund to pay for these bills. He just looked at me and said "Don't do that. You shouldn't have to start over we can just use our emergancy funds for this stuff". As sweet as the statement was (and it really was). In my mind I could not justify dipping into the EF with the uncertain future of the job market. However, if we didn't have the extra savings for other items I would have been transferring funds from our EF savings account into our checking account yesterday afternoon so that I could buy that new toilet.

Do you have an emergancy fund in place? Have you talked to your spouse about what you would consider an emergancy? If not, start today! If you are dragging your feet just watch the news tonight and maybe that will motivate you to start saving for that rainy day.

And one last question for you. Is it raining at your house? If so tell us about. I'd love to have others join me in this little pitty party today!